Lyra Frivola | Page 9

Greek
'gainst the foes that his country environ:?'Tis improbable quite you'll be wanted to fight,
and the phrase will remind them of Byron.
If you can't get a place in Society's race,
and you have to confess that you're beaten,?Yet I hope I have shown you may make yourself known
by espousing the cause of the Cretan:?You will sell all your works by denouncing the Turks,
and the public will hasten to read 'em,?When in reverent tones you are mentioned as "Jones,
the Defender and Champion of Freedom!"
L'AFFAIRE (CHAPTER ONE)
It was a little Bordereau that lay upon the ground:?The Franco-Gallic Government that document it found,?And straightway drew the inference, though how I do not know, Some Jew had sold to Germany this dreadful Bordereau.
'Tis all (they said) a Hebrew trick---a treasonable plan-- And, now we come to think of it, why Dreyfus is the man!?At any rate (they argued thus), it is for him to show?That he is not the criminal who sold the Bordereau.
Some hinted at another man, whose autograph it bore--?But this was Dreyfus' artifice, and proved his guilt the more: No motive for the horrid deed confessedly he had:?And crimes which are gratuitous are nearly twice as bad.
They caught that Jew (did Government) and charged him with the sale; They proved his guilt--or said they did--and shut him up in gaol; And then, their case to justify and show their verdict true, They took and baited every one who called himself a Jew.
These incidents an uproar caused like Donnybrook its Fair: Wherever Frenchmen met to talk 'twas Pandemonium there:?And anywhere except in France you'd argue from events?That Ministers had rather lost the public confidence.
Then spake the German Government (and here I must deplore The fact that they had not presumed to mention it before): "Although," they said respectfully, "we would not interfere With any Angelegenheit outside our proper sphere--
Why make this quite-essentially-unnecessary fuss??This compromising document was never sold to us:?Potztausend!" said the Chancellor, "upon my honour, no!?We have not got and do not want your precious Bordereau!"
This rather struck the Ministers, in Paris where they sat: They took and read the Bordereau: they had not yet done that. 'Twas found to mention obvious facts which any one might know-- No horrid revelations lurked within the Bordereau!
And did they set poor Dreyfus free, the due amends to make, Regain the public confidence by owning their mistake,?And cease for popularity by sordid means to bid??These are the things they might have done; but this is what they did:--
They said, those Gallic Ministers, "Undoubtedly it's true The document has not been sold, and is not worth a sou; But as the man's in prison now, why, there he's got to stay-- Que voulez-vous_?" they simply said, "it is a Chose Jug��e_!"
This artless little narrative is specially designed?To illustrate the workings of the Gallic statesman's mind; And till they change those processes and mould their ways anew, It is not yet in Paris that I want to be a Jew.
UNSELFISH DEVOTION
Ye Concerts who plan for the welfare of Man
and compose his occasional quarrels,?Whom we properly deem to be teachers supreme
in the sphere of Political Morals,?May you win the renown that your efforts should crown
and reward your assiduous labours?In arranging the cares and embarrassed affairs
that afflict your unfortunate neighbours!
Should a potentate go for his national foe,
and, as soon as he's thoroughly licked him,?Should he dare to demand a concession of land
from his prostrate and paralyzed victim,?It is then you arise and his arm you arrest
when his harvest is ripe for the reaping,?And a people oppressed may in confidence rest
when it's safe in Diplomacy's keeping.
It is you who protest in a horrified tone
at a hint of Integrity's danger,?And the victor is shown that a Concert alone
is of Law and of Fate the arranger:?With a warlike display of your fleets in array
and of Maxims (both empty and loaded)?You establish it plain that his notions of gain
are immoral and also exploded!
Let the blasphemous cry that it's done with an eye
to your ultimate personal profit,?That your chivalrous task is but worn as a mask
till occasion allows you to doff it,?Let the caviller say that the victim to-day
is preserved from a final disaster,?And is saved from the Japs that to-morrow perhaps
he may furnish a meal for their master:
Yet I cannot believe that what Concerts achieve
is by reasons ulterior dictated,?I am perfectly sure that their motives are pure
(by themselves it is frequently stated);?By themselves we are taught that they never in thought
could the Good with the Selfish commingle--?What they do is designed for the good of mankind
with an eye that is simple and single!
For whomever--e.g., let us say the Chinee--
you have freed from the fear of invasion,?Should he presently seem in a posture to be
which is open to Moral Persuasion,--?How you take him in hand, a philanthropist band!
how you toil to improve his condition,?With a